Newcastle Have The Right Formula For The Premier League
Nobody should make the mistake of thinking Newcastle United's promotion back to the Premier League was a formality and anyone who does clearly has a very short memory.
Newcastle were expected to be the new Leeds United. But we have seen a new Newcastle United, driven, focused, determined and unified in their quest to return to the Premier League.
There isn't a phoenix in sight as a far as I can tell, but from the ashes of relegation, the Magpies fly again.
I don't care about the standard of the Championship or the supposed gulf between the two divisions - Birmingham City and Wolverhampton seem to have done okay for themselves this season haven't they! - Newcastle should enjoy their success because they deserve it.
You can only beat what is put in front of you and Newcastle have taken on everyone who has fancied their chances this season. Only West Bromwich Albion and Derby County have avoided losing to them as things stand.
They have walked into bear pits up and down the country, from Scunthorpe to Bristol and they have coped admirably with the pressure which has followed them every single step of the way.
They were the team everybody wanted to beat, but they have reveled in keeping hold of their scalp. Newcastle have lost only four times in the league and three of those came before the end of October when they were still coming to terms with their fall from grace.
We were waiting for them to mess things up, to throw it all away through a dangerous cocktail of complacency and arrogance because that has so often been the Newcastle way.
Instead they have retained the same core values of team work and hard work which initially protected them from the turmoil off the pitch at the start of the season and have turned them into a winning formula.
And it is not just a formula to get them out of the Championship. With the right signings over the summer, they are the same core values which will keep them up, the same core values which were so obviously missing when they crashed out of the top flight in such humiliating fashion as Aston Villa last summer.
Newcastle should never have been in the Championship, but now they are out, we can only be grateful they were able to do something decisive about it.
The words may still stick in people's throats, but we can only be thankful to Mike Ashley for taking the decision to protect his investment by covering the cost of relegation from his own pocket.
He is no hero, clearly, but he did the decent thing as soon as he realised he could not sell up and get out.
But the real thanks goes to the players and Chris Hughton. United's manager was not a popular choice in the summer with Alan Shearer itching to get back into things, but he has handled things and himself superbly.
The quiet man the club needed to silence the critics queuing up to kick it when it was down, Hughton has plenty to prove in the Premier League, but he is assured of his place in people's hearts for what has happened this season.
As for the players, they will have several new teammates to welcome over the summer, but thank goodness so many of them decided they had to put right last season's wrongs and stayed at St James' Park.
They could have abandoned the sinking ship - others did -and they have their reward for feeling it was up to them to put things right.
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Very good piece Luke.
The players have shown great spirit and humility in what they've done this season, which is unusual in football these days.
I despair at some of the arrogant rubbish spouted by our fans on Sky Sports News and bulleting boards though. Nobody has a divine right to be in the PL, you earn your place. And anyone who thinks next season will be a walk in the park doesn't know much about football. A little humility among the fans wouldn't go amiss. Surely we've learned a lesson from last season?
Interesting to see what Mr Ashley does next ...
Hear hear Restless. As a Black Cat welcome back to the PL. Of course we Mackems enjoyed your little period in the wilderness - who could blame us the amount of stick we've had from you guys in the past. Nevertheless Newcastle are a great club with fantastic fans and it is good to see you back in the top flight.
Your comments about humility are so spot on though because as we all know in this game the footballing gods are always ready to kick you where it hurts when you get too above yourself. Surely it must be time for that to happen to Man U and Chelski!
Luke, I couldn't agree more with this piece. For a long time I worried about complacency or arrogance, but this bunch of players just seem to have a togetherness that has sorely been lacking for years. Against Sheff Utd on Monday, even when we went 1-0 down I was 100% confident we would come back and get the three points. Lets be honest though there is still a job to be done. I want us to go up as Champions, then a couple of seasons of stabilising ourselves in the PL are required. The building blocks are in place, but Europe is still a long way off, and patience will therefore be required. Well done to the players though, and two fingers up to Harry Redknapp et al who mused that we'd fall straight into league one.
Luke,
Great piece. Some teams coming up from the CCC have come unstuck by replacing their winning team in a wholesale fashion (Roy Keane at Sunderland?), while others have found life equally tough by sticking to their existing squads. Either way, the attitudes and team spirit will be very important next year, and if we can recreate the same “fortress SJP” next year, we’ll be well on the way to survival.
An issue which has been raised under various previous regimes (notably Roeder) has been the importance of the manager in being able to attract high quality players to our northern outpost of the Premiership. I hope than Ashley and Co. can put in place a better system of persuading players and agents that we are a good club to join than we have sometimes had in the past, and that this issue is not used to undermine the understated but successful CH. Similarly, I hope that our scouting network has already been working away at identifying the right potential signings. Perhaps there will be some ideal players available this summer – either because players contracts have run down, because other clubs are looking to lower their wage bills, or even because good players’ clubs are relegated.
The “where are they now” piece was a good illustration of what might happen next at SJP.
Luke, conspicuously absent on Monday night was Alan Smith. Any news why he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I haven't seen any reports he was injured, and no comments in the media about him being left out of the team. He played 90 minutes at Peterboro so I expected he would be at least on the bench v Sheff Utd. Seems odd that he didn't even make an appearance on the pitch at the end (as far as I could tell).
Nothing much to report really. Spoke to Alan Smith - interview in Thursday's Journal - and he said he would have played if Newcastle had needed to win to be certain of going up. Think he was left out as a precaution more than anything although he's not guaranteed his place back anymore given the performances of Danny Guthrie and the return of Joey Barton.
yes good article luke; I have to say its been great to be out of the spot light for a while and just let the football do the talking. hope CH keeps his feet and his players on the ground the PL/ media has a habit of building massive egos then waiting for a crack then the just keep at it until the dam bursts. I hope everyone can kick on, feel condident and carry on playing. they do need to cut out a few mistakes but i'm sure they know that.
one thing i'd like to say is; i'm a bit sick of hearing people say "MA has supported the club out of his own pocket"? NUFC is not a PLC MA chose to do it this way therefore his money is going into his club same as my money goes into my house minus a few 000,000 but lets be honest who else would put money in his club or my house - who else would buy me new windows or central heating? get over it! 1,2,3 back in the room!